Junior Worlds

Chris had a good day and after startiing in the 10th row ended up 28th. Pretty good for a 16 yr old riding against older boys. Besides, he's got a USA jersey for his closet and the memories of racing at the World Championships, priceless.

Trash Day

What do you use to haul your trash out in the morning? How about this baby, all this guy needed to build this was an old refrigerator, mower, and a shopping cart. No need to go by some fancy contraption, just grab some stuff out of the back yard and build 'er up. I don't think my wife will let me have one, besides, I'm sure Overland Park has some ordinance that would outlaw it.














Now some days this is appealing. We were at a cub scout function and they used it for a skit, really, it's not at my house, not yet. His brother is in the background, bet he has something to do with this.














Minor Park last week, hopefully it will dry out in the next few days.

Updates are coming on the Pinewood derby cars. Right now I'm trying to get the weight right, 5oz, no more, no less, more of those pesky rules. I should go with a standard NASCAR crew chief''s motto....... It's our job to cheat, It's their job to catch us.

It's going to be nice tomorrow, 60 degrees but lot's of wind..........I see pain. Get out and ride!

Let the races begin.....

I bet you thought I was talking about cycling! Nope, it's time to get ready for another run at the PINEWOOD DERBY!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh YEA!! Time to build two more cars for the boys. This year they designed their own cars and now it's time for me to do a little woodworking.



Start with little blocks of wood and a design......



Go at it with the saw and a belt sander and this is what you have. So far I'm only sporting one bandage!

Next up, getting them up to weight!

Don't forget about Cross Worlds this weekend!

Go Chris!

Seasonal freakout

Like all other cyclists I'm riding the temperature roller coaster and hating life. Riding in the cold is OK and I'm doing more this year than ever before. Then we get a warm up and I feel great riding out on the road. Then the hammer falls and it's into the teens for a daytime high. Back on the mtb and into the woods we go! Don't get me wrong, riding in the snow is a riot, it's just that the body just doesn't react to the change in temp as well as it used to.














60 degree January ride with the boys.

This brings me to the seasonal freak out. If you are a racer you know what I'm talking about. Talk to a few people, read a few blogs, and all the sudden you start thinking you're not training/riding enough. Every year I go through this and even though I know it all evens out by time the season rolls around...... I still feel like I need to do more than just ride around. But, I think I'll just stick with what I'm doing and wait for spring!













Here's some motivation, the Team frames are here!

New stuff, new news

Back on the 29'er crew this year, I'm pretty excited to put a little bit more of a focus on MTB racing. New bike, kit, pretty sweet!

New kits for the road team, SRAM groups, Fisher Frames, and Bontrager bit's and pieces.

I am spending way too much money! Time for a garage sale!













This kid is heading off to the World Cyclocross Championships next week. Good Luck Chris! Race hard and above all.....HAVE FUN!














Bill holding court at he Fundraising party at the TREK store. Thanks to everybody who came out!
















I went over Chris's back up bike a few days ago and then installed the TRP brakes. Sweet brakes with the in line cable adjuster and adjustable toe in built into the brake pad holder. New Dugast Tubies for the forcasted mud as well. I thought I was done sniffing glue for the year but I just realized that I'll be pulling off the cross tires and gluing up road tires all too soon.

Snow trails

Rolled out this morning at 8am with a crew from the shop at SMP. We got in a few laps and Marco had to head out to open the shop. Soon after we ran into this crew out on the trail. Scott, Bill, and I latched onto the group and put in a few more laps. Much warmer temps today the riding much more pleasant. Traction was perfect for most of the day, we were all tired just about the time the snow started melting off so it was time to leave anyway. Riding with this group was fun and by time we were done I had some tired legs.















Scott blazing the trail before we met up with the group

Marco riding testing out the Maverick fork.

Might be a few days before the trails dry out so back on the road for a while.

First tracks!

Got up this morning bright and surly for a snowy ride. It's been a while since I went on a mtb ride in the snow. It was only 6 degrees when we got on the bikes but if you dress right it's easy to stay warm. Anyway, we had a blast plowing through a few inches of snow.

Looks like tomorrow will be more of the same as the snow's not going anywhere until tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully the roads will clear off enough for a good road ride Sunday.















I wonder if Stans sealant will freeze when it's this cold out?

4th Grade Strings and who are these guys?

Yesterday, a day I've been dreading finally came. Jonas is in his first year of strings and and we had the JOY of attending his first concert. Now it's been somewhat pain full listening to him practice for the past months and I could only imagine what it was going to sound like with the whole 4th grade class screeching at once. Let me describe this screeching sound, think fingernails on a chalkboard over and over......now have 20 people do it all at once, yea, you got it. Heck, I was so excited we got there early to get 2nd row seats! Now I've got to say I was pleasantly surprised at how they sounded. With their teacher playing the piano and most of the kids hitting the right notes it wasn't too pain full. 5 very short songs later and Jonas had some proud parents. Little did I know that Jonas went first, now I had to sit through 5th grade strings, 5th grade band, and 6th grade band. ouch! It must take incredible patience to be a music teacher, gains in skill take time and kids at that age have short attention spans.

So I got home and after the ringing in my ears subsided I watched the news and saw that it was going to get colder all day today. With temps in the 30's at 8am I decide to drop off the kids at school and then ride out to SMP and hit the trails. Great plan, poor execution at the start. By 8am the wind had all ready switched to the north at 20+ mph and it was going to be a rough ride to the park. So after grinding my was out to the park I found the gates closed. What........it hasn't rained in weeks! But I don't want to "that guy", you know, the guy from the TREK Store who got a ticket for riding on closed trails. Anyway, it's getting colder by the minute so I decide to bag it and head home.




You may know these guys but I'm not telling who's riding in the middle of the day.

As I'm rolling away from the trailhead I see a car pull up with bikes on it, hmmmm, maybe I can ride after all, then I see another guy I know on the road. Now this guy you might know, he gets blamed for everything, if we get caught we can all point at him. So they unload and we roll in to the trails, past the gate, and guess what, the trails are dry, actually, they were dusty. We do quite a few laps and as we are rolling out we notice that the gate is now open, go figure. Strange ride tho, no crashes, no endo's, no black eyes, that's unusual. The guys load up and I decided to ride home with a stiff cross/tailwind. When I left the house it was 34 degrees, when I got home it was 12 degrees, that sure beats the trainer any day. Today the trails were perfect, and we had a great group of riders, what an awesome day!

It's been a while - Grote Prijs Cross

It feels like it's been a while since my last post, in fact I can't even remember what I've been doing lately. Last week I did manage to get out for a few rides to see what's left of my summer fitness.


I think it's somewhere down there.......down that long, deep, dark tunnel.


Hopefully I'll find it sometime this spring or summer!

So what did I decide to do about my lack of fitness, why I'll just double up at today's cross race. I've done this in the past at this race with less than stellar results. Today I decided to be steady and try to finish both races. Since I goofed off and got to the race late I had just enough time to get to the line for the Masters race. The race sent pretty smooth, Andy and Steve were off and running while Dave and I had a fun battle for most of the race. In the end I placed 3rd, not too shabby.

Now wait 2 hours, don't warm up, and move on to the 1,2,3 race. Got a decent start, about mid pack, and after a few turns Shadd's leading when he goes down in a greasy corner. Chris has nowhere to go and goes over the top of Shadd. I'm moving up..... Two turns later Mark goes down and Tige goes over the top of him. Now I'm in second place behind Bill and I'm thinking I need to back off Bill wheel for the next few turns........

After the chaos sorted out Chris, Shadd, and Cam had a battle for most of the race, Adam and Bill were riding together, and Mark and I were going back and forth. Eventually Chris got away for the win, Cam had a great ride for 2nd, and Shadd motored in for 3rd. Bill jumped past Adam in a crowd pleasing move for 4th while I rolled in for 6th.

Super nice day for a cross race in January, not too much mud and temps in the 40's.

But now, it's over.............we say farewell to the cross season of 08. Just think the road season starts Feb. 28th!

Have some fun and help Chris go to Worlds!

Chris Wallace World Championship Travel Fund.




Congratulations to KCCX/VERGE rider Chris Wallace for being selected as a member of the 2009 Junior World Championships Team in Hoogerheide, Holland. After a successful inaugural Euro-Cross Camp, Chris will head back to Europe on January 23rd to prepare for Worlds. This is very prestigious honor for any rider. Many work their entire life to make the Worlds team and never accomplish their goal. Chris is fortunate enough to have reached this goal at a very young age.



In an effort to help with the travel expenses we ask the cycling community to pitch in to help a local rider make a dream come true. Donations can be made online or join us on Tuesday, January 20th at the Trek Store of Kansas City. The festivities will begin at 7:00 P.M. and end at 9:00 P.M. We will have some tasty Famous Dave's BBQ and Boulevard Beer. All proceeds will go directly to the travel fund. We hope to see you at the Trek Store of Kansas City. Thank you for supporting the KCCX/VERGE Elite Cycling Team.

New Years Ride

Met up with a few guys at 8:30 am on New Years day for a ride. OUCH....that's early! In fact too early for most so the group was small. But conditions were perfect and we had a great time.





There were a few unfortunate gravitational issues for a few people but overall there were no MAJOR injuries. Unless you count Scott's face plant in the rocks.








I should of told him to leave the blood on his face until after the picture for the full gore effect. It's never good when you look back and you see someone with their feet over their head going through the rocks!



This picture pretty much sums up Ted's day. Crashes, a flat tire, hopefully he got everything out of system for the year!











Interesting feature that the trails crew are working on. Doug tried it a few times. I'll pass, rocks on one side, 3 foot drop on the other.



I'm looking forward to more time on the MTB this year. I'm back on the Fisher 29'er Crew this year so it's time to get those big wheel's a rolling!